---
title: Adding dist-tags to packages
redirect_from:
  - /getting-started/using-tags/
---

Distribution tags (dist-tags) are human-readable labels that you can use to organize and label different versions of packages you publish. dist-tags supplement [semantic versioning][semver]. In addition to being more human-readable than semantic version numbering, tags allow publishers to distribute their packages more effectively.

For more information, see the [`dist-tag` CLI documentation][dist-tag].

<Note>

**Note:** Since dist-tags share a namespace with semantic versions, avoid dist-tags that conflict with existing version numbers. We recommend avoiding dist-tags that start with a number or the letter "v".

</Note>

## Publishing a package with a dist-tag

By default, running `npm publish` will tag your package with the `latest` dist-tag. To use another dist-tag, use the `--tag` flag when publishing.

1. On the command line, navigate to the root directory of your package.

   ```
   cd /path/to/package
   ```

2. Run the following command, replacing `<tag>` with the tag you want to use:

   ```
   npm publish --tag <tag>
   ```

### Example

To publish a package with the "beta" dist-tag, on the command line, run the following command in the root directory of your package:

```
npm publish --tag beta
```

## Adding a dist-tag to a specific version of your package

1. On the command line, navigate to the root directory of your package.

   ```
   cd /path/to/package
   ```

2. Run the following command, replacing `<package_name>` with the name of your package, `<version>` with your package version number, and `<tag>` with the distribution tag:

   ```
   npm dist-tag add <package-name>@<version> [<tag>]
   ```

### Example

To add the "stable" tag to the 1.4.0 version of the "example-package" package, you would run the following command:

```
npm dist-tag add example-package@1.4.0 stable
```

[semver]: about-semantic-versioning
[dist-tag]: /cli/dist-tag
